Funding for the project is through a Health Care Innovation Award from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.

Losing a moderate amount of weight and increasing physical activity can prevent or delay new cases of type 2 diabetes by 58 percent overall and by as much as 71 percent in adults over the age of 60.

Nationally, 1 in 4 Americans has prediabetes. In Pima County, that means almost 250,000 people may be at risk of developing the disease, and most don’t know it.

YMCA officials recommend taking the first step in prevention and treatment by taking a risk assessment test at www.diabetes.org/risktest. ﻿

Stephanie Innes

UA wins grant to study post-stroke language recovery

An interdisciplinary group of researchers at the University of Arizona has been awarded a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study language abilities in patients recovering from a stroke, UA News reports.

The findings are expected to guide the development of treatments that would help patients regain as much of their language skills as possible. Among other things, the researchers hope to find out why some patients recover most or nearly all language functions, while others do not.

The principal investigator of the study is Stephen Wilson, ﻿ an assistant professor in the UA Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.

One of the most common and debilitating consequences of a stroke is the loss of the ability to speak, read or write. Collectively referred to as aphasia, such acquired communication disorders affect about 1 million Americans, according to UA News.

UA scientists are expected to work with patients in the first three months following a stroke, combining language assessments with a comprehensive battery of brain imaging techniques.

The five-year grant is administered through the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, which is part of NIH.

Online parenting class participants can get $50 gift card

Parents can earn a $50 gift card by completing a free online self-paced parenting class offered through the local Community Prevention Coalition.

‘Parenting Wisely” is an interactive parenting skills program for parents of Pima County children who are ages 12 to 18 years old. The course has been named a model program by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA).

For information, go to www.BeFreePima.com/Parents ﻿ and click on “Responsibly Manage Challenging Teen Behaviors” or contact Irene Rojas at 205-4781 to register and complete the online class.